When the incredibly-rich quintet of people decided it would be a great idea to gawk at the gravesite of nearly 2,000 souls miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean (only to add five causalities’ to the roster), I tweeted that it was exactly this kind of disaster that would suppress space tourism. Some folks pounced on me, pointing out the differences between submersibles and spacecraft. I countered that submarines, in one form or another, have been used (even in warfare) for about three hundred years.
In any case, Virgin Galactic enjoyed a tremendous rally in recent weeks, only to have seen most of it unwind in a couple of days. I realize a part of this is the fact the company decided to take advantage of the idiotic prices and sell hundreds of millions in new “investment” stock, but all the same, I’d like to think that the five people suddenly crushed to death in a few milliseconds may have had something to do with it, even if the form of exotic tourism was in a different medium (water as opposed to the vacuum of the cosmos).
The lifetime picture of Virgin Galactic (SPCE) illustrates what a piece of crap this has been, although its beneficiary, Richard Branson, is doing just fine, thanks for asking.
In my opinion, what space tourism needs is two brave pioneers to ascend past the ionosphere, again and again and again, to illustrate to the world that space tourism is fun, failsafe, and available to the masses. I’d like to offer the perfect candidates right here and now on the Slope of Hope: Get suited up, you two!
